Chalid Astrakein
}} |} Chalid is the foremost high priest (Luridus) of The Empyrean. He is mentioned in the tale of Gibbon Goetia, a man gifted (or cursed) by Esus with the ability to assume the likeness of any man. Not much else is known about Chalid. Notable Quotations I was invited to attend the initiation rites of the Ecclesiastics in Balderham. Ordinarily I would have feared some attempt at propaganda or persuasion, but in all things the Empyrean is open. The Vicar and one Ecclesiastic walked from the temple, at the heart of the city, while I followed behind a respectful distance, a welcome observer but not participant. We went not to the manor house of the local lord, nor the poor beggars in their slums, nor to some sacred altar from which to pray. The Vicar led us to the dungeon, and the Ecclesiastic aspirant showed the same surprise I felt. The guards let us pass, and downwards we walked, through the squalor that inevitably collected in such a place, even a relatively enlightened realm such as this. Men moved forward to watch us as we passed. Some hurled taunts or mockery, while some hurled more vile substances, the excrement occasionally landing on the Vicar’s robes. The young man flinched, though his mentor did not. “Why have we come to such a dark place, Father?” asked the Ecclesiastic. “Why do we go anywhere?” was the reply. “To bring light into the darkness.” This was some sort of code or mantra, for they both spoke it together. They stopped at one cell, a ragged man shuffled up to the bars, blinking in the light of our torch. “This is the darkest corner of our realm, dear child, not for the fact that we descend deep into this hole, but for the depravity of those who were brought here. This man has… his hands are stained with the blood of man. But he has requested to hear of the light. If you can bring him from the darkness, you will be ready for your vows. Lugus will show you the way.” The Vicar passed the torch to his charge, and turned to leave. The man behind the bars sank to his knees and cried, “Teach me, lord, please!” The boy knelt to pray for wisdom, and I turned to leave as well, though I caught the eye to the imprisoned man and grew to doubt success of the young man’s mission in this place. —From Chapter 3 of Reflections on the State Cults, by Elder Methyl of the Luonnotar Strategy This hero is a game breaker against the AI. Build him, ramp up the sun mana nodes, and you have a one man army who can use the pillar of fire to weaken opponents and twincast to summon two +2 sun affinity (like chalid himself) for 3 units to attack with. The AI is no match for a unit like this. If you are faced against him as a human player he may seem indestructable. However, mind mana is the answer. Even a simple mage with mind II's charm person can temporarily capture him so you can disband him. Of course then your opponent could rebuild him with life III's resurrection. So the safer route I have found is to get a unit with Mind III (either an archmage or a hero like Gibbon). Then you can cast dominate and simply take him for your own. You will need empyrean religion or you can immediately convert once you capture him (otherwise he will desert you for religious purposes). If you used a hero like Gibbon to get him with Mind III, this means you will lose Gibbon. But if it was an archmage you keep both. Even loyalty cannot stop the conversion, it just means you need to bring another mage along with Metamagic II's dispel magic, and then charm or dominate him. If you use Mind III's dominate to take him, it also leaves your opponent in the unfortunate position that his hero is not dead, so he cannot be resurrected nor can the shrine of the champion even be built. Your opponent will have a ton of sun mana nodes that are useless if the opponent has no archmages. But you will be in perfect position to take your fully promoted one man army to capture those sun nodes, while you ramp your own up in the homeland.Category:Disciple Units Category:Hero Units Category:Religious Hero Units